The Digital Fix: Film

Bandslam Review

Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) is not popular at school. In fact he&#8217;s frequently picked on, for reasons we discover later. But his wishes are granted when his mother (Lisa Kudrow) gets a new job. Which means a new town (Lodi, New Jersey &#8211; not the first 70s rock reference in the script and it won&#8217;t be the last - though Creedence Clearwater Revival's song is named after the Lodi in California). And a new high school. One of the first friends he makes is Sa5m, with a silent &#8220;5&#8221; (Vanessa Hudgens). And then he hears about Bandslam, a battle-of-the-high-school-bands contest. Will is determined to put a band in shape for the contest, but what can he do with a guitarist who wants to be English, a bassist who wants to be Flea, and a drummer with a violent reputation and the hots for Will's mother?

A little reminiscent of The School of Rock, though with older kids, Bandslam is an engaging comedy-drama that sustains itself well for a somewhat elongated hour and three quarter running time. It benefits from a smart script that has a real feeling for its subject. This is a film steeped in rock music from a certain era &#8211; namely the late 60s to the early 80s. I&#8217;m a quarter-century too old and the wrong nationality to be an American high school student, so I&#8217;ll leave it to you to decide if Will&#8217;s taste for and in-depth knowledge of music recorded before he was born is credible, or whether he&#8217;s little more than the fantasy figure of a middle-aged scriptwriter. (Since I&#8217;m acquainted online with a Jefferson Airplane fan who will be twenty this month, my disbelief was suspended.) But it&#8217;s nice to see a film featuring a rock nerd who can discuss The Velvet Underground with and without John Cale, and the use of their track &#8220;Femme Fatale&#8221; (with Cale, and with Nico as well) is a nice touch.

Like many such films, Bandslam follows a course that is predictable, though not too much so &#8211; however the ending goes on a little too long to avoid becoming sappy. The film&#8217;s device of Will&#8217;s (voiceovered) emails to David Bowie is another grace note, and results in a cameo from the man himself towards the end of the film.

Bandslam is a film that is likely to fly under many people&#8217;s radars, being a teen comedy from a director with only one previous feature under his belt (Camp, which I haven&#8217;t seen). But it&#8217;s an enjoyable film all the same, all the more so for fans of 60s/70s rock like me. And you can't hate a film where the name of the band Will puts together is a Samuel Beckett reference.

Overall

7

out of 10

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